#1 Membership Sites WordPress Solution

[toc]For anyone that has had some experience on the Internet, running into membership sites is a common occurrence, even if you don’t properly recognize them by name. Any site that touts itself as a leak of success secrets or provider of insider information for a small fee is a membership site. As commonplace as they may be, it’s still difficult to create one from scratch. Where to begin? What does it involve? What are the benefits of running one?

To help answer these questions and more, we’ve outlined the secrets behind membership sites (though we’re not charging a fee). Simply put, when it comes to membership sites WordPress is one of the best applications to use, especially in conjunction with something like OptimizePress.

How Do I Build a Membership Site?

Building a strong membership site that will provide value to consumers is primarily about two factors: knowledge and professionalism. If you have an expertise in a field that you know will drive traffic and sales, but lack the necessary sales page to reflect that knowledge, then people will naturally be mistrustful of your work. Conversely, having a quality sales page may drive initial traffic to your site, but over time the lack of knowledge will diminish your returns.

While we can’t help you become an expert in your field, we can at least help you to make your membership site as inviting and professional as possible. When it comes to membership sites WordPress is simply the way to go. WordPress, and OptimizePress (which we’ll get to later), are important parts of building a sustainable online presence because they eliminate much of the technological expertise required for fronting a web site in favor of making things as streamlined as possible. If your skills are primarily in writing or business, you can easily translate these to successful websites with the help of WordPress.

In order to begin building membership sites WordPress does require one thing: the potential for traffic. This means research on your end, as a perfectly crafted web site doesn’t mean anything if no one knows about it. Directing traffic to your web site will be difficult, but not impossible. Some great tips for building a budding membership site are to scout around forums for a particular field that requires your expertise. Build a base of subscribers that you can rely on to visit your site once you’ve made the necessary preparations with WordPress and OptimizePress. Once the hard work is done, you can sit back and send out emails to notify people of the new web site and rely on your customers to make the right decision to sign up.

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What are the Problems?

After the initial preparations, you may feel confident in your message and the value you’ll demonstrate to consumers, but that won’t mean much without an effective site to convey that message. Making your site responsive to different trends in modern technology, like the advent of mobile surfing, are necessary to keeping your site as inclusive as possible. It may be a membership site, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t welcome newcomers in order to convince them to sign up. Unfortunately, designing a site that is as professional and inclusive as it needs to be can take a great deal of both effort and time. Having said that, WordPress and OptimizePress are effective ways of dramatically reducing the time needed to make your site viable and ready to start receiving customers.

Managing a membership site isn’t without its issues though. Even after you’ve gotten the necessary sign-ups, you’ll be surprised at the amount of content demanded from members. People aren’t interested in just reading articles to glean information, they want to be communicative. Social media has become the phenomenon it is because everyone has an opinion, and each person wants their voice to be heard. With membership sites WordPress can only do so much to make your site look professional; coming up with events and ways for your audience to stay in communication will need to happen on your end. Some of the best tips available for a struggling membership site are to be responsive to customers and take their feedback into consideration. Of course, this is difficult to do when you’re trying to manage the membership site at the same time, which is why outside help can be useful.

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How Does OptimizePress Fit In With Membership Sites and WordPress?

It’s been said time and time again, but dealing when dealing with membership sites WordPress and OptimizePress are incredibly important to making your experience behind the scenes as streamlined as possible. No one wants to be up late at night desperately trying to get their new membership site to work, as that time can be better spent coming up with innovative ideas for the members you already have. While there are other programs that work with WordPress, few of them are as reliable as OptimizePress.
Whether you’re looking to increase the number of options for members of varying pay rates, or you want something that can integrate with your shopping cart, OptimizePress is the way to go. With OptimizePress, you get a program with blog building, autoresponder integration, video integration, and many more applications tied around social media and sharing tools.

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What are the Steps to Building a Successful Membership Site?

The following outline is going to be based off of the assumption that you’ve gone ahead and purchased a membership building software like OptimizePress to work with WordPress. In addition, this is going to also assume that you’ve done your research and have found a reliable source of subscribers for your service. The way we intend to make our site is based on a simple premise, that traffic will be driven through an effective squeeze page to convert potential members into actual ones.

1. Use OptimizePress to integrate all of your potential subscribers into one mailing list. This will ensure that you are able to quickly reach out to all of your potential members and keep them up to date on services while also keeping them clued in to the site’s status.

2. Provide a tangible service to tantalize viewers. Potential members won’t be convinced by some fancy content on a membership site page, even if it was lovingly crafted with WordPress. People need to walk away with more knowledge than they came in with if they’re expected to give you their money. A free gift can help convince your target audience that not only do you know what you’re talking about, but that what you’re keeping for the paying members is actually even more valuable. If you’re giving away valuable information for free, just how much information do you actually have?

Of course, coming up with a free gift idea can take time. As effective a sales tactic as it may be, some people aren’t necessarily comfortable with letting go of some of their hard earned information in exchange for a possible customer in the long run. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea, you can move on, but there’s no guarantee your membership site will be as effective or lasting in this increasingly competitive online market.

3. Create your “thank you” or “download” page, as applicable. This should be an obvious step, as it’s the part where you actually give the people what they’ve just paid for (thanks to your amazing membership site courteous of OptimizePress, of course). This may seem counter-intuitive, as you have yet to make the actual sales page, otherwise known as the “squeeze page,” but we’re getting there.

4. The squeeze page is surprisingly simple to make, as OptimizePress can easily integrate itself into the basic WordPress software. In creating membership sites WordPress uses the OptimizePress code to conjure up a web page that is primarily comprised of two things: a catchy headline to draw traffic in and a simple web form for users to input their information. Once the information has been given and the transaction has been made, users are then free to transport to “thank you” or “download” page without any additional work on your end. As we’ve discussed time and time again, the less work your responsible for with the web site, the better.

5. In order to properly drive viewers to your squeeze page, you’ll need to use one of two methods: forum or video marketing. Thanks to the accessibility of YouTube, making a video for the Internet couldn’t be easier. Finding forums for your specific niche may be a little more difficult, but it’s nothing a little thorough Googling can’t solve. Simply browse the Internet for the time of community you’re trying to reach out to, and you’ll have a large collection of viable customers ready at the click of a button. Since OptimizePress merges these accounts into one easy to access web folder, contacting them all at once with exciting new offers couldn’t be easier.

Alternatively, accessing paid traffic utilities may be better suited to you if you have the disposable income and have already tried the non-costly methods. YouTube and forums are great sources for customers, but those wells can run dry quickly and sometimes you need to get your name out there at a more rapid pace. In these scenarios, paying for ads to appear on web sites can be a worthy investment. With the large number of people currently using sites like Facebook, it is worth taking the time to look into these opportunities for possible expansions.

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Are There Any Drawbacks to OptimizePress?

As streamlined as it is, OptimizePress is not without some minor flaws that keep it from being the perfect solution to all membership site issues. For one thing, depending on your needs, a little technological savvy may be required. Of course, this may never come up if you’re looking for something simple, but the more complex your site needs to be, the more research you’ll need to devote to properly running OptimizePress.

Another issue of OptimizePress is its cost, though it can be considered a gift depending on your viewpoint. Since OptimizePress costs a hefty sum, some people may think they’re better off going with a cheaper alternative that isn’t as effective simply to save money. If you intend to create a lasting site that will generate a lot of traffic though, it’s inevitable that you will need to purchase OptimizePress to suit your needs. As large as its cost may be, there is one upside: it isn’t a yearly subscription. While many software programs in this vein are sold as subscriptions, OptimizePress gives you the entire program once you buy it without any need for renewal. So, in a way, you’re actually saving money when paying the big bucks for OptimizePress.

Despite the cost-saving analysis, OptimizePress doesn’t evolve as technology changes. This means that as software coding for WordPress transitions to new styles, OptimizePress will be less effective over time. If you’re in for the long haul, be prepared to buy the upgraded version of OptimizePress when it’s released so that you can stay in constant line with WordPress and keep your site as up to date as possible.

credit photo: Chris Farrell Membership

Should I Buy OptimizePress Or Not?

Ultimately, the decision rests with how confident you are in your idea and how comfortable you are in investing in your business opportunity. If you want your membership site to take off and you’re sure you’ve got a sustainable business idea, then there’s no reason not to purchase OptimizePress. It works seamlessly with WordPress, it’s a fantastic method for cloaking links for membership sites and it gets the job done for one up-front cost. If you’re not as confident or comfortable in your idea, there are alternatives out there, but none of them will be as satisfying as OptimizePress. With its range of utility and accessibility, OptimizePress is to the go-to choice for anyone looking for a straightforward path to crafting a welcoming site on the Internet.

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